Walkways over the marshes of Point Pelee, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Sue Ann Campbell)

The Great Lakes region is full of diverse histories, environments and landforms, and each
Great Lake has its own story to tell. To truly know the lacustrine barrier systems that are
found in the Great Lakes, one must understand each system singularly before any generalizations
can be made. Some systems will develop similar to oceanic barrier systems. Others will grow
from circumstances completely foreign to marine environments. This site will examine two
locations to emphasize in greater detail the similarities and discrepancies that can exist
between oceanic and lacustrine barrier systems.

The first site we will investigate is Long Island, part of the Apostle Islands in
Wisconsin, located on the southern shore of Lake Superior. Long Island is a recurved
barrier island on the northwest tip of the Chequamegon Point barrier spit. It undergoes
periods of attachment and detachment due to storm washover and the rise and fall of lake
levels. The main source of sediment is input from the Kakagon and Bad Rivers to the east,
and a dominant northwest drift continues to feed Long Island and Chequamegon Point.

Next, we examine two sites on the northern shore of Lake Erie: Point Pelee and
Long Point, Ontario. Both of these sites are barrier spits, which owe their existence
to glacial moraines. Point Pelee is a cuspate foreland built by two conjoined barrier
bars with a central marsh. Current sources of sediment include the bluffs on the northeast
side of the Point and the erosion of nearshore glacial sediments along the eastern
shoreline. Since then, it has been retreating on the eastern side and accreting on the
western. Long Point is an eastward-trending barrier spit fed by bluff erosion to its west.
Its distal end is prograding into the lake, while its central and proximal regions are
being eroded by winds and overwash.